Sarissa Bryant 

Bell 3A 
10/5/19 
Teaching Essay 
 
 
As seen in both articles teachers are leaving the profession at the fastest rates 

on record. This is because of the low pay, and the bureaucratic oversight that has 

started to take place. Many teachers love theirs jobs, but can’t work through the 

struggles they face, which causes them to leave the field.  

Teachers pay is an issue that has been discussed for many years. Some people 

agree that teachers need to make more and others are against the idea. When the 

statistics on pay are shown it is seemingly obvious as to why teachers are leaving the 

profession. As seen in the article “Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rates on Record”, the 

pay gains for teachers is going up at an extremely low rate. “Wages and salaries for 

public-education workers rose 2.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, not 

adjusting for inflation. That matched the largest annual raise in nearly a decade, but 

was still well below the 3.1 percent annual increase in pay” (Hackman and Morath). The 

tension over inadequate pay has led to protest, which has resulted in shutting down 

classrooms in some cases. I believe that without a change in pay more and more 

teachers are going to leave the profession. It is said that money shouldn’t be the only 

thing that influences a job, but at a certain point people still need to pay bills and put 

food on the table, which has become an issue to some teachers. In the article 

“Teachers Quit Jobs and Highest Rates on Record”, the author states that a real life 

teacher, Sara Jorve, was forced to rely on her parents for financial assistance since her 
pay was so small. The low pay is having a big effect on teachers and this leads them to 

have to find new jobs with better financial support. Another reason why teachers are 

leaving at such high rates is the Another reason why teachers are leaving the field at 

such high rates is the influence of charter schools. As stated in the article ``It's Not 

Money Causing People to Leave Their Jobs in Droves, it’s People”, ​“the bureaucrat 

class within charter schools conducts a misguided experiment: they think faux 

corporate hiring, assessment, and firing tactics will in some way benefit students, 

when it usually just causes crippling instability” (McClinton). This means that teachers 

quality is being assessed. With a heavily strict guideline to follow many teachers don’t 

feel like they are doing what they love anymore.  

Things need to change in order to stop the increase in teachers leaving the field. 

I believe the number one solution is an increase in pay. This will help so many 

teachers out and will keep people studying to be teachers more inclined to fulfill their 

career. Also the pressure on teachers should be relieved. “Teachers can deal with the 

stress caused by their students because that is what they signed up for. What teachers 

cannot deal with is the stress caused by the other adults.” (McClinton).This can change 

by having administrators allow teachers some slack when it comes to how hard they 

go on students. Teaching is one of the most important jobs and in order to keep it we 

need to have some changes made. 

 
 Work Cited 

McClinton, Justin. ​It’s Not Money Causing Teachers To Leave Their Jobs In Droves, 

It’s People.​  

Hackman, Michelle and Morath, Eric. ​Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on 

Record.